Explanation:
The plane of our Milky Way Galaxy runs through this
complex
and beautiful skyscape.
Seen toward colorful stars
near the northwestern edge of the constellation
Vela
(the Sails),
the 16 degree wide, 200 frame mosaic is
centered on the glowing filaments of the
Vela
Supernova Remnant, the expanding debris cloud from the
death explosion of a massive star.
Light from the supernova explosion
that created the Vela remnant
reached Earth about 11,000 years ago.
In addition to the shocked filaments of glowing gas, the cosmic
catastrophe also left behind an incredibly dense,
rotating stellar core, the Vela Pulsar.
Some 800 light-years distant, the Vela remnant is likely
embedded
in a larger and older supernova remnant,
the Gum Nebula.
Objects
identified in this broad mosaic include
emission and reflection nebulae, star clusters,
and the remarkable
Pencil
Nebula.